Page 43 of Repossess My Heart

We’re in the fucking down.

My faulty warning system takes that information and runs with it, filling my head with lines of information I don’t understand, inspiring a brain deep throb. Every muscle in my body tenses as he releases me, his mistake. When I pivot, it’s quick, quicker than it should be, but I don’t take longer than a nanosecond to consider why before I bolt. My body taking the driver's seat while my brain struggles to keep up.

The long halls maze out, but the path throbs in my head. I’m fast. I’m not even sure why I’m running when he slams into me from behind. Sending my body roughly to the ground, “You should know better than that by now.” He grunts when his hand finds the back of my neck its unyielding and painful. Jerking me to my feet before I’m flying forward. My monster at my back as I’m slammed into one of the stone walls. “Never run from me.”

“I- I didn’t sign up for this. I can’t be down here.”

It takes a moment for me to realize this need to escape isn’t entirely my own. Part of it egged on my CeCe’s tech and every horror story I’ve ever heard about this place. There’s no shortage of them.

“I think it’s time you tell me about that illegal tech in your spine. Huh? The thing is sending off signals so damn strong it's making my head hurt.” His lips graze my ear, his breath teasing my flesh. “You were nowhere near that fast the last time I chased you. Why?”

“Nine, we have to leave now.”

“Where’d you get it?”

A yelp leaves my mouth as he presses into me from behind, his cock straining against my lower back. It takes more effort than it should to twist my face away from him, reopening the scabbing wound on my chin.

“You dismantle that old bot you keep in your pod for it? How’d you get it in? Who helped you, Reverie?”

I shake my head, my body thrumming with need or fear I can’t tell. Only that we’re both somewhere we shouldn’t be.

“Nine, I need you to listen to me. We can’t stay down here.”

That awareness prickles, making me strain against him, struggling for even an inch of leverage. He gives none as I’m jerked from the wall, my back bowing as he uses my hair to dip me backwards in front of him. “Why can’t I read basic fucking bot tech, Reverie?”

“It’s not them Nine. The ones you want to kill didn’t order that hit.” I stop breathing the moment he does, his hand tightening painfully in my hair, exposing my throat. “Someone’s coming.” I squeak out before he cuts me off, his glacier blue eyes boring into me through the mask.

“How could you know that?”

My breath shudders as everything in me fights against the urge to tell him. I should be alarmed by it really, by the desire to tell him anything he wants to know. “You said the Migs referenced the onesrunning the show, that isn’t the Officials or the people Above.” I whisper it so quietly I’m surprised he hears me. Those words have terrified me since I was given them. I’ve never dared to say them out loud.

“What the fuck does-“

“If you’re going to kill the girl, do it inside the room. Blood is a bitch to get out of stone.” A voice chirps off the stone walls and Nine jerks me up so fast my head spins before I’m roughly tucked into his side. His drone coming to hover above me, just enough in front to touch my line of sight.

“Alana.”

My eyes land on the lanky woman, her clothes covered by a long apron making her look almost naked underneath. Water sloshes from the bucket she’s holding as the modified sanitization bots hum at her feet. Their height meeting her around her thighs. “It’s been too long, Nine. I almost didn’t believe it when Anton said the prodigal son had returned.”

“Is he ready for us?”

She tilts her head, short unkept blue hair falling into her face, “So you gonna do it or what?”

“What?” He snaps, glowering at the waif of a woman.

Her honey-colored eyes finally settle on me. “Kill her. Everyone in D4 is taking bets on if she was going to make it out of your room or not.”

“You can see she did, much to her disappointment.” He retorts his hold on me loosening to something of an… affectionate gesture more than defensive. Still, I can feel the tension, the rage radiating off him in droves. I wonder for a second if he will kill me after this, after I blow up everything he knows.

The woman frowns, her eyes scanning the large number on my stomach. “Glad my clothes fit her.”

My eyes dart towards him, not that I could get any good read on him even without the mask. I’m not too stupid to miss the snark in her voice. The only reason these fit me is because they’re barely covering anything. More accessories that go on top of an outfit than a proper outfit themselves.

“Is he ready for us?”

“Yeah, and in a shit mood, thanks to you.”

The way she watches him makes that ugly feeling bud in my chest again, adding to the throbbing of my heart and the panic that’s only just lessened and barely at that. Something about being in her clothes only makes the edge worse. This isn’t the type of feeling I long for. Not something I’ll lean into, not now. When everything is far more convoluted than ever.

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